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Portsmouth 1 Everton 2: Flawed Rooney eases plight for Everton

DEMOTION TO the substitutes’ bench riles any footballer. For Wayne Rooney, this would appear tantamount to an insult. Bereft of success of late, he was brought on midway through the first half and played with sufficient rigour to score the goal that gave Everton their first away victory of the season.

There was a down side — some would say not surprisingly — in that Rooney was fortunate not to be sent off for pushing Steve Stone to the ground right in front of referee Uriah Rennie. He was, in fact, on his way to the dressing-room when a yellow, not a red card, was brandished. Asked whether he should have been dismissed, David Moyes, the Everton manager, said: “I saw a push and the consequences have to be faced.”

Rennie clearly felt this did not constitute violent conduct, for Rooney did not punch Stone, or, for that matter, push him in